Wade Davis

Wade Alan Davis II (born July 28, 1977) is an American speaker, activist, writer, educator and former American football player.

Born in Little Rock, Arkansas, Davis grew up in Shreveport, Louisiana and Aurora, Colorado. He played college football at Mesa State and Weber State. In 2000, Davis signed with the Tennessee Titans of the NFL as an undrafted free agent but was cut after the preseason. He made his professional debut in 2001 with the NFL Europe team Berlin Thunder and won the World Bowl IX title with the Thunder. After spending the 2001 preseason with the NFL's Seattle Seahawks, Davis again played the 2002 regular season in the NFL Europe with the Barcelona Dragons. He then participated in training camps and preseasons with the Tennessee Titans in 2002 and Washington Redskins in 2003 before retiring due to injury. After leaving the NFL, Davis became the captain of National Gay Flag Football League, the New York Warriors.

In 2012, Davis came out, publicly speaking about what it was like to be closeted and gay in the NFL.Davis is the former executive director and former director of professional sports outreach for the You Can Play project, an advocacy organization working to eradicate homophobia in professional sports. During his time at the You Can Play project, Davis developed curriculum, programming, training, and facilitated conversations focused on inclusion, equality, equity, and diversity. He formerly worked at the Hetrick-Martin Institute in New York City, New York, as the Assistant Director of Job Readiness, where he helped LGBT youth learn practical life skills and how to apply them.

Davis has been invited to keynote and present workshops at colleges, universities, and corporations around the globe. Davis has used his platform as an athlete to become an advocate for positive change through his workshops, keynotes, panel presentations, interviews, and writings.